Adrian had always been good at reading people. He had to be—it was the only way to survive growing up under his father’s iron shadow. Words meant nothing in the mafia; it was the silences, the pauses, the stolen glances that told the truth.
And lately, Selene’s silences had begun to feel different.
She smiled when he looked at her. She touched his hand when he passed her a glass of wine. She whispered his name at night with a tenderness that burned into his chest. But during the day, when she thought he wasn’t watching, her gaze would shift. She would drift into her own thoughts, her eyes darkening with a fire he couldn’t quite reach.
And then there was Victor.
Adrian hadn’t wanted to admit it at first. He wanted to believe Selene had no interest in him—because why would she? She had c
